Methods and apparatus to perform antenna management

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus to perform antenna management are described herein. One example method of establishing communication between user equipment and a network includes receiving a control channel message, decoding the control channel message, and sending an indication of whether interoperability of receiving signals from a first number of antennas is certified for the user equipment. Other examples are shown and described.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/220,039, filed Jun. 24, 2009, the entire content ofwhich is expressly incorporated herein by reference. Management

TECHNICAL FIELD

The example embodiments described below relate generally to datatransmission in mobile communication systems and more specifically tomethods and apparatus to perform antenna management. In certainexamples, the following pertains to methods, devices, and systems forintroducing of 4-Tx features that are supported by Long Term Evolution(LTE) release 8.

BACKGROUND

As used herein, the terms “user agent” and “UA” can refer to wirelessdevices such as mobile telephones, personal digital assistants, handheldor laptop computers, and similar devices or other User Equipment (“UE”)that have telecommunications capabilities. In some embodiments, a UA mayrefer to a mobile, wireless device. The term “UA” may also refer todevices that have similar capabilities but that are not generallytransportable, such as desktop computers, set-top boxes, or networknodes.

In traditional wireless telecommunications systems or networks,transmission equipment in a base station transmits signals throughout ageographical region known as a cell. As technology has evolved, moreadvanced equipment has been introduced that can provide services thatwere not possible previously. This advanced equipment might include, forexample, an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN)node B (eNB) rather than a base station or other systems and devicesthat are more highly evolved than the equipment in a traditionalwireless telecommunications system. Such advanced or next generationequipment may be referred to herein as long-term evolution (LTE)equipment, and a packet-based network that uses such equipment can bereferred to as an evolved packet system (EPS). Additional improvementsto LTE systems/equipment will eventually result in an LTE advanced(LTE-A) system. As used herein, the phrase “base station” will refer toany access device that can provide a UA with access to other componentsin a telecommunications system.

In release 8 (Rel-8) LTE downlink transmission, the system could chooseto support the transmit antenna configurations having one, two, or fourantennas (i.e., 1-tx, 2-tx and 4-tx). Several examples are describedherein regarding how to introduce Rel-8 4-tx features that are supportedby LTE Rel-8.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of this disclosure, reference is nowmade to the following brief description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein like referencenumerals represent like parts.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the multiplexing of early Rel-8 UE and futurerelease UE in a 4-tx system in one example embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the multiplexing of early Rel-8 UE and futurerelease UE in a 4-tx system in another example embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the procedure of hand shaking between UE anda network regarding antenna ports.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a wireless communications system including a UAoperable for some of the various example embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a UA operable for some of the variousembodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a software environment that may be implemented ona UA operable for some of the various embodiments of the disclosure; and

FIG. 7 is an illustrative general purpose computer system suitable forsome of the various example embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Abbreviations used in the description

AOA Angle of arrival BCCH Broadcast Control Channel BF Beamforming CQIChannel Quality Indicator CCE Control Channel Element CRS Commonreference signal DL DownLink DCI Downlink Control Information DL-SCHDownlink Shared Channel DRS Dedicated reference signal DM-RSDemodulation reference signal eNB E_UTRAN Node B EoR ENB or RN EPCEnhanced Packet Core FDD Frequency Division Duplexing FRS Full ResourceScheduling HARQ Hybrid ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) L1 Relay Layer 1(PHY) relay L2 Relay Layer 2 (MAC) relay LTE Long Term Evolution LTE-ALTE-Advanced MAC Medium Access Control MCS Modulation and Coding SchemeMIMO Multiple Input/Multiple Output MME Mobility Management Entity MMSEMinimum Mean Squared Error MU-MIMO Multiple user MIMO NAS Non-AccessStratum PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel PDCCH PhysicalDownlink Control Channel PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel PHICHPhysical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel PUCCH Physical Uplink ControlChannel PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared CHannel PA Power Amplifier PMIPrecoding Matrix Index PHY PHYsical layer PRS Partial ResourceScheduling PSS Primary Synchronization Signal RA Random Access RF RadioFrequency RLC Radio Link Control RN Relay node RNTI Radio NetworkTemporary Identifier RAT Radio Access Technology RI Rank Indication RNRelay Node RRC Radio Resource Control RSRQ Reference Signal ReceiveQuality RSRP Reference Signal Receive Power SFBC + FSTD Spatialfrequency block coding and frequency switch transmit diversity SFNSingle Frequency Network SGW Serving GateWay SRS Sounding ReferenceSignal SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal SU-MIMO Single user MIMO TATiming Alignment TB Transport Block TDD Time division duplexing TPMITransmitted precoding matrix index TRI Transmitted rank indicator TTITransmission Time Interval UE User Equipment UL UpLink Uu Interfacebetween UE and Relay-Node Un Interface between Relay-Node and Donor-eNBUL-SCH Uplink Shared Channel

In Rel-8 LTE downlink, three antenna configurations could be supportedat eNB, which include 1-tx, 2-tx and 4-tx, meaning the use of one, two,and four transmit antennas, respectively. The antenna configurationinformation at eNB is implicitly signaled to the UE through physicalbroadcast channel (PBCH) decoding. According to PBCH blind decoding,after a UE synchronizes with the system through synchronization signals,it will try to decode the PBCH by assuming different antennaconfigurations, and will also need to use different cyclic redundancycheck (CRC) masks corresponding to different antenna configurations toverify if the decoding is correct or not. After it succeeds in blinddecoding of the PBCH, the antenna configuration is also known to the UEthrough the association of the CRC and the number of antennas used. TheUE will then assume such antenna configurations for the transmission ofall common channels such as PDCCH, PHICH etc. Because the antennaconfiguration at eNB is transmitted implicitly through the PBCH, it isthe general understanding that such configuration will not change overtime, and the same system cannot support different antennaconfigurations simultaneously for different UEs, such as supporting1-tx, 2-tx or 4-tx transmission in the same cell simultaneously.

It was also the general assumption when Rel-8 spec was developed, thatall Rel-8 UE shall support all of these transmit antenna configurationssince eNB could deploy any one of them. The 4-tx features supported byRel-8 in downlink mainly include two major functions, transmit diversity(TxD) and spatial multiplexing (SM). TxD is used to maintain thecell-edge performance and will be applied to all the common controlchannels such as PBCH, PDCCH, PHICH and the PDSCH channel. For TxD,SFBC+FSTD technique is used. For SM function, the main goal is toincrease the system throughput. Such function is used in most of thetransmission modes defined in Rel-8 such as closed-loop SM transmissionmode (mode 4), open-loop SM transmission mode (mode 3) and otherrelevant modes. For SM, codebook based precoding transmission forms thebasis of such function. As common reference signals (CRS), also calledcell-specific RS, are used in Rel-8 downlink for demodulation andchannel measurement, in a 4-tx system, CRS will be transmitted on allantenna ports.

All Rel-8 UEs should support all possible antenna configurations at eNB,which includes 1-tx, 2-tx and 4-tx transmissions in LTE downlink. The UEwould automatically detect the eNB antenna configuration through blindlydecoding the PBCH and then assume such antenna configuration throughoutits time in that cell. However, during the prioritization planning oftest cases in the radio access network (RAN5), it was noted that 4-txsystem may not be deployed in early stages of Rel-8. Thus, those testcases related to 4-tx were given medium priority, which means they maynot be tested for the terminals for the first release. On the otherhand, due to the lack of commercialized 4-tx system in the earlydeployment, the interoperation test (JOT) between UE and eNB on 4-txfeatures may not be fulfilled well. That raises the concern that even ifall these 4-tx features defined in Rel-8 are implemented by UE, thestability and reliability of such features in real deployment may not beguaranteed. That could make the operators very reluctant to introduceand support 4-tx features for such early Rel-8 UEs. If such a situationhappens, that could impose a big setback to LTE system, as many advancedfeatures and significant gains that result from the 4-tx system in Rel-8will not be realized.

One solution to solve this is to keep the Rel-8 spec as it is right now,but re-evaluate priority for downlink 4-tx test cases in RAN 5 to enableconformance tests for UE for early deployment. At the same time the chipvendors and UE vendors could conduct extensive development tests on 4-txfeatures to minimize the risks due to the lack of IOT test. During earlydeployment, if conditions permit, operators could work with terminalvendors for partial TOT test on 4-tx feature. The benefit of suchsolution is that it has no impact on Rel-8 spec and there will be nobackward compatibility problem showing up in the future while operatorscould enjoy the full benefits of 4-tx features. However the risks ofdeploying 4-tx features due to lack of IOT could be mitigated but maynot be fully avoided.

In a first approach to resolve this issue, an IOT feature groupindication for 4-tx feature is defined. For early Rel-8 UE which doesnot support IOT certified 4-tx features, such indication (for example, abit) is set to false. For future release of UEs, which support IOTcertified 4-tx features, such indication is set to true. The UE wouldsend this indication to the network (e.g., eNB) along with other featuregroup indication bits after initial call setup or under the control fromthe eNB.

When 4-tx is introduced in the system, eNB transmits PBCH with 2-tx TxD,even though four transmit antennas are available. This ensures earlyUEs, which are IOT certified with 2-tx, can continue to receive PBCHcorrectly. For future release UEs, which support IOT certified 4-txfeatures, the eNB would need to inform such UEs that the network couldsupport 4-tx transmission. There could be different ways for suchsignaling.

In one example, eNB always uses 2-tx TxD to transmit PBCH, but insteadof using corresponding 2-tx CRC masking, it uses another CRC masking toindicate that eNB could have 4-tx transmission capability. Such CRCmasking could be the existing one corresponding to 4-tx CRC masking or anew CRC masking. For this approach, Rel-8 PHY specifications need to bechanged to ensure correct PBCH decoding for both early Rel-8 UEs andfuture release UEs. By this approach, the UE can obtain correctly boththe layer mapping information and CRS transmission information. Forexample, the layer mapping of the PBCH is based on 2-tx TxD, but the CRSis transmitted using 4-tx pattern.

In another example, rather than using a different CRC, the PBCH stilluses 2-tx TxD and the corresponding 2-tx CRC masking. The eNB would thenneed to send a higher layer signal such as radio resource control (RRC)signaling to inform future release UEs that 4-tx transmission isavailable for PDSCH and possibly PDCCH/PHICH transmission.

For future release UE that supports IOT certified 4-tx features, eNBthat supports 4-tx may use different antenna configurations to transmitcommon control channels other than PBCH. For example, in oneimplementation, common broadcast or multicast control channels such asPCFICH and common PDCCH will be configured with 2-Tx transmission, NonUE-specific information such as broadcast control information carried onPDSCH is also transmitted using 2-tx configuration; while UE-specificcontrol and data channels such as PHICH/PDCCH and UE-specific PDSCH willbe configured using 4-Tx transmission. The CRS transmission is stillfollow 4-tx transmission pattern which is indicated by the CRC masking.In such embodiment, as 2-tx TxD could be configured for PHICHtransmission for early Rel-8 UE while 4-tx TxD could be configured forPHICH transmission for future release UE, there will be mixing of 2-txand 4-tx PHICH transmission. This requires multiplexing.

Multiplexing could be carried out using at least two differenttechniques. One way is to group PHICH with the same antennaconfiguration in the same PHICH group. Such arrangement allows PHICH touse the same TxD scheme as defined in current Rel-8. But as PHICH indexand PHICH group index are linked to uplink RB allocation of each UE,such grouping would reduce RB allocation flexibility and multiplexingefficiency in uplink for each UE.

An alternative multiplexing technique allows each PHICH group to containUEs with different antenna configurations, such as with 2-tx and 4-txtransmission. Such a method would not impose any limitation on uplink RBallocation and all the existing PHICH mapping rules defined in Rel-8could be used. However, having PHICH with different antennaconfiguration multiplexing on the same PHICH group would introduce powerimbalance across antennas. It could also break orthogonality betweendifferent PHICHs and therefore degrade the performance.

In another example, all the common and UE-specific control channel suchas PCFICH/PDCCH/PHICH are configured using 2-tx transmission. For PDSCH,it could be configured using 4-Tx for UE-specific transmission whileconfigured using 2-tx transmission for non UE-specific transmission. TheCRS transmission is still follow 4-tx transmission pattern which isindicated by the CRC masking. In this example, both PDCCH and PHICHwould also use 2-tx TxD, which may lose the coverage gain obtained byusing the 4-tx TxD. However, it avoids a number of issues due to themixing of 2-tx and 4-tx transmissions in the control regions.

In a 4-tx system deployed at a later stage, in order to support thosefuture release UEs, which have the capability of receiving 4-txfeatures, in one embodiment, 4 common RS ports should be transmitted inboth time and frequency as defined in Rel-8. For those early Rel-8 UEs(e.g., UEs that are not IOT certified), even though they are configuredwith 2-tx transmission, they should be aware of the fact that 4-tx CRSare transmitted, and therefore, should not expect any transmission onthose RE allocated for CRS ports 2 and 3.

To convey such information of 4-tx transmission capability of eNB tothose early Rel-8 UE, several methods could be used. According to oneexample, eNB could use 2-tx TxD to transmit PBCH, but use corresponding4-tx CRC masking for PBCH to indicate that the 4-tx CRS are transmitted.The early Rel-8 UEs should be able to decode such combination and knowthat even though the system would use 2-tx configuration for itstransmission, it would have the 4-tx transmission capability and wouldtransmit on CRS ports 2 and 3.

In another example, the eNB could broadcast or send a high layer signalsuch as RRC signaling to inform early Rel-8 UEs that it has 4-txtransmission capability and would transmit CRS ports 2 and 3. The UEthen should not expect any data transmission on those RE correspondingto CRS ports 2 and 3.

For eNB that supports 4-tx, it uses 2-tx transmit diversity to transmitcell-specific or common control information on PDSCH, e.g. whosecorresponding PDCCH are scrambled by SI-RNTI, RA-RNTI, P-RNTI andTemporary C-RNTI. To transmit UE-specific information on PDSCH, e.g.whose corresponding PDCCH are configured by C-RNTI and SPS C-RNTI, thenumber of antenna ports used is defined by the parameter that is set byRRC signaling. The parameter is initialized based on the minimum valuebetween 2 and the number of antenna ports obtained after PBCH decoding,and can be reconfigured by RRC signaling after eNB obtained the featuregroup indication information from UE.

In another example, if such RRC signal on antenna port is notconfigured, the future release UE which supports 4-tx features couldassume eNB use 4-tx transmission after it sends to the eNB its featuregroup indicator, and use corresponding receiver for 4-tx or conductblind decoding using both receivers for 2-tx and 4-tx at least at thebeginning of decoding PDSCH.

Table 1 summarizes in a 4-tx system, different antenna transmissionconfigurations for different channels, for relay Rel-8 UE and futurerelease UE as described in a first approach.

TABLE 1 Antenna configuration for a first approach in a 4-tx systemCommon control channel (PCFICH/ UE- PDCCH) specific Feature and non UE-control specific channel group PDSCH (PDCCH/ UE-specific UE typeindicator PBCH (SIB) PHICH) PDSCH Early False 2-tx TxD 2-tx TxD 2-tx TxD2-tx Rel-8 with CRC transmission UE masking (TxD and indicating SM)Future True 4-tx 2-tx TxD 2-tx TxD 4-tx release system or 4-txtransmission UE TxD (TxD and SM)

The foregoing has described different aspects of this approach andproposed different examples regarding use of this approach to introduceRel-8 4-tx features without incurring substantial changes to the currentspecifications and/or standards. In general, the approach proposed herewould not require any priority change in RAN 5 on-terminal conformancetest for early Rel-8 UE. It would also avoid the risk due to the lack ofIOT test 4-tx features.

For eNB deployed in a later stage with 4-tx antennas, as it needs tosupport both early Rel-8 UEs and future release UEs with differentantenna configurations, the implementation at eNB could certainly becomplicated.

In the future deployment, when 4-tx systems are deployed, supportingboth early Rel-8 UE and future release of UE needs to multiplex them inthe same system. FIG. 1 shows such multiplexing as an example.

Modifications on Rel-8 Specifications

Following are examples of modifications based on current Rel-8specifications to support the examples described above. For simplicityof illustration, only one of the examples is described.

The changes are summarized in the following:

RRC signaling specifications

Definition of an IE that will indicate whether 4-tx antennaconfigurations are used by the eNB. This IE is sent through dedicatedRRC signalling to a particular UE.

Definition of a new parameter sent by eNB to indicate the number of TXantennas used for UE-specific transmissions and procedure text todescribe the initialization and reconfiguration of the parameter

PHY layer specifications

Limit the layer mapping for PBCH/PCFICH/PDCCH/PHICH to 2 TxD

Limit the layer mapping for a PDSCH that is pointed by a PDCCH that isscrambled by SI-RNTI, P-RNTI, RA-RNTI and temporary C-RNTI to 2 TxD. Setthe layer mapping for a PDSCH that is pointed by a PDCCH that isscrambled by C-RNTI based on the parameter set configured on RRCsignalling described above.

A number of modifications are needed in TS 36.331.

Definition and IE change: AntennaInfoDedicated.

A new IE “Antenna4TxIndicator” is defined and added into the existing IE“AntennaInfoDedicated”.

The current IE “AntennaInfoDedicated” in the existing Rel 8 RRCspecification (3GPP TS 36.331) is defined as follows:

AntennainfoDedicated ::= SEQUENCE {  transmissionMode  ENUMERATED {  tm1, tm2, tm3, tm4, tm5, tm6,   tm7, spare1}, codebookSubsetRestriction  CHOICE {   n2TxAntenna-tm3    BIT STRING(SIZE (2)),   n4TxAntenna-tm3    BIT STRING (SIZE (4)),  n2TxAntenna-tm4    BIT STRING (SIZE (6)),   n4TxAntenna-tm4    BITSTRING (SIZE (64))   n2TxAntenna-tm5    BIT STRING (SIZE (4)),  n4TxAntenna-tm5    BIT STRING (SIZE (16)),   n2TxAntenna-tm6    BITSTRING (SIZE (4)),   n4TxAntenna-tm6    BIT STRING (SIZE (16))  }OPTIONAL, — Cond TM  ue-TransmitAntennaSelection   CHOICE{ release  NULL, setup   ENUMERATED  }   {closedLoop, openLoop} }

The new IE “AntennaInfoDedicated” is as follows:

—Start of Text Proposal—

AntennaInfoDetheated ::=  SEQUENCE {  antenna4TxIndicator BOOLEAN,  transmissionMode   ENUMERATED {    tm1, tm2, tm3, tm4, tm5, tm6,   tm7, spare1},   codebookSubsetRestriction   CHOICE {   n2TxAntenna-tm3     BIT STRING (SIZE (2)),    n4TxAntenna-tm3     BITSTRING (SIZE (4)),    n2TxAntenna-tm4     BIT STRING (SIZE (6)),   n4TxAntenna-tm4     BIT STRING (SIZE (64)),    n2TxAntenna-tm5    BIT STRING (SIZE (4)),    n4TxAntenna-tm5     BIT STRING (SIZE(16)),    n2TxAntenna-tm6     BIT STRING (SIZE (4)),    n4TxAntenna-tm6    BIT STRING (SIZE (16))   } OPTIONAL, — Cond TM  ue-TransmitAntennaSelection    CHOICE{ release    NULL, setup   ENUMERATED   }    {closedLoop, openLoop} }

AntennaInfo field descriptions antennaPortsCount Parameter representsthe number of cell specific antenna ports where an1 corresponds to 1,an2 to 2 antenna ports etc. see TS 36.211, 6.2.1. Antenna4TxIndicator:Indicates whether 4Tx antenna is used on PDSCH for UE specifictransmission transmissionMode Points to one of Transmission modesdefined in TS 36.213, 7.1 where tm1 refers to transmission mode 1, tm2to transmission mode 2 etc. codebookSubsetRestriction Parameter:codebookSubsetRestriction, see TS 36.213 [23, 7.2] and TS 36.211 [21,6.3.4.2.3]. ue-TransmitAntennaSelection For value setup the fieldindicates whether UE transmit antenna selection control is closed-loopor open-loop as described in TS 36.213 [23, 8.7]. Conditional presenceExplanation TM The field is mandatory present if the transmissionMode isset to tm3, tm4, tm5 or tm6. Otherwise the IE is not present and the UEshall delete any existing value for this field.

—End of Text Proposal—

The IE “AntennaInfoDedicated” is contained in the IE“PhysicalConfigDedicated”, while the IE “PhysicalConfigDedicated” isfurther contained in the IE “RadioResourceConfigDedicated”.

The IE AntennaInfoDedicated is used to specify the UE specific antennaconfiguration.

The IE PhysicalConfigDedicated is used to specify the UE specificphysical channel configuration.

The IE RadioResourceConfigDedicated is used to setup/modify/release RBs,to modify the MAC main configuration, to modify the SPS configurationand to modify dedicated physical configuration.

The IE RadioResourceConfigDedicated is further contained in the RRCmessage “RRCConnectionReconfiguration”, “RRCConnectionReestablishment”,“RRCConnectionSetup” and will deliver to the UEs via the dedicatedsignaling.

Before the UE receives the “AntennaInfoDedicated”, for example, for themessage 2 and message 4 receptions, both the eNB and the UE shouldassume the same antenna configurations detected via the PBCH is appliedfor PDCCH/PHICH/PCIFCH/PDSCH.

Procedure text change

Define the initialization of the new parameter antennaPortDedicated

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If the antenna port count determined by the PBCH decoding is greater orequal than 2, then UE set the value of antennaPortDedicated to be 2,otherwise UE set the value of antennaPortDedicated to be 1

—End of Text Proposal—

Define the reconfiguration of antennaPortDedicated.

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5.3.10.6 Physical Channel Reconfiguration

The UE shall:

1>reconfigure the physical channel configuration in accordance with thereceived  physicalConfigDedicated; 1>if the antennaInformation isincluded and set to ‘explicit Value’:  if the configuredtransmissionMode is not ‘tm3’  or ‘tm4’ release ri-ConfigIndex in cqi-  ReportPeriodic, if previously configured;  2>   if theantenna4TxIndicator is set to “TRUE”, the UE shall set  antennaPortDedicated to 4; 1>else if the antennaInformation isincluded and set to ‘default Value’:  2>release ri-ConfigIndex incqi-ReportPeriodic,  if previously configured;

—End of Text Proposal—

Modification to TS 36.211

The modification could be done in TS 36.211 to limit up to 2-txtransmission for PBCH/PCFICH/PHICH/PDCCH.

—Start of Text Proposal—

6.6.3 Layer Mapping and Precoding

The block of modulation symbols d(0), . . . , d(M_(symb)−1) shall bemapped to layers according to one of Sections 6.3.3.1 or 6.3.3.3 withM_(symb) ⁽⁰⁾=M_(symb) and precoded according to one of Sections 6.3.4.1or 6.3.4.3, resulting in a block of vectors y(i)=[y⁽⁰⁾(i) . . .y^((P-1))(i)]^(T), i=0, . . . , M_(symb)−1, where y^((p))(i) representsthe signal for antenna port p and where p=0, min(P,2)−1 and the numberof antenna ports for cell-specific reference signals P ε {1,2,4}.

—End of Text Proposal—

Modification to 36.212

If it is desired to have a separate PBCH CRC masking to specify that2-TxD is used for PBCH while eNB could still support 4-tx transmission,then the following modification could be made to 36.212.

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5.3.1.1 Transport Block CRC Attachment

Error detection is provided on BCH transport blocks through a CyclicRedundancy Check (CRC).

The entire transport block is used to calculate the CRC parity bits.Denote the bits in a transport block delivered to layer 1 by a₀, a₁, a₂,a₃, . . . , a_(A-1), and the parity bits by p₀, p₁, p₂, p₃, . . . ,p_(L-1). A is the size of the transport block and set to 24 bits and Lis the number of parity bits. The lowest order information bit a_(o) ismapped to the most significant bit of the transport block as defined inSection 6.1.1 of 3GPP TS 36.213.

The parity bits are computed and attached to the BCH transport blockaccording to subclause 5.1.1 setting L to 16 bits. After the attachment,the CRC bits are scrambled according to the eNode-B transmit antennaconfiguration with the sequence x_(ant,0), x_(ant,1), . . . , x_(ant,15)as indicated in Table 5.3.1.1-1 to form the sequence of bits c₀, c₁, c₂,c₃, . . . , c_(K-1) wherec _(k) −a _(k) for k=0,1,2, . . . ,A−1c _(k)=(p _(k-A) +x _(ant,k-A))mod 2 for k=A,A+1,A+2, . . . ,A+15.

TABLE 5.3.1.1-1 CRC mask for PBCH Number of transmit antenna ports TxDorder for non-UE PBCH CRC mask at eNode-B specific transmissions<x_(ant,0), x_(ant,1), . . . , x_(ant,15)> 1 1 <0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0> 2 2 <1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1,1, 1> 4 2 <1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0> 4 4 <0, 1, 0,1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1>

—End of Text Proposal—

Modification to 36.213

In 36.213, antennaPortDedicated can be used to specify antennaconfiguration of PDSCH for UE.

—Start of Text Proposal—

7.1.2 Transmit Diversity Scheme

For the transmit diversity transmission scheme of the PDSCH, the UE mayassume that an eNB transmission on the PDSCH would be performedaccording to Section 6.3.4.3 of 3GPP TS 36.331, version 8.6.0, which isavailable on 3GPP website. For PDSCH that are configured by SI-RNTI,P-RNTI, RA-RNTI, and Temporary C-RNTI, 2 antenna ports are used fortransmit diversity. For PDSCH that are configured by C-RNTI and SPSC-RNTI, the number of antenna ports that are used is provided byantennaPortDedicated

—End of Text Proposal—

In another alternative approach, an IOT feature group indication for4-tx feature is defined. For early Rel-8 UEs, which do not support IOTcertified 4-tx features on PDSCH, such an indication (for example, abit) is set to false. For future release of UE which supports IOTcertified 4-tx features on PDSCH, such indication is set to true. The UEwould send this indication to eNB along with other feature groupindication bits after initiation.

For eNB that supports 4-tx, it configures 4-tx TxD transmission forcommon control channels such as PBCH, PCFICH, PDCCH, PHICH. eNB uses4-tx CRC masks on PBCH. For both early Rel-8 UE and future release UE,UEs can detect the antenna configuration by decoding PBCH. 4-tx commonRS ports are transmitted in both time and frequency. After early Rel-8UEs detect the 4-tx antenna configuration through decoding of PBCH, theyshould not expect any PDCCH/PDSCH transmission in those RE designatedfor CRS ports 2 and 3.

For early Rel-8 UE, it could support 2-tx transmission on its PDSCHchannel including both 2-tx TxD and 2-tx SM, or it could support 4-txTxD for PDSCH and 2-tx SM for PDSCH. Such UE could further receive ahigh-layer signaling from eNB to inform that it should expect to receive2-tx transmission on its PDSCH channel including 2-tx TxD and 2-tx SM.Or it should expect to receive 4-tx TxD or 2-tx SM on its PDSCH channel.

In one example, for eNB that supports 4-tx, it uses 4-tx transmitdiversity to transmit non UE-specific information on PDSCH, e.g. whosecorresponding PDCCH are configured by SI-RNTI, RA-RNTI, P-RNTI andTemporary C-RNTI. To transmit UE-specific information on PDSCH, e.g.whose corresponding PDCCH are configured by C-RNTI and SPS C-RNTI, thenumber of antenna ports used is defined by the parameter that is set byRRC signaling. The parameter is initialized based on the minimum valuebetween 2 and the number of antenna ports obtained after PBCH decoding,and can be reconfigured by RRC signaling after eNB obtained the featuregroup indication information from UE.

For future release UEs, which supports IOT certified 4-tx features, theeNB would configure 4-tx transmission for both common control channeland PDSCH channels, which includes 4-tx TxD for all common controlchannels and 4-Tx TxD and SM for PDSCH channels.

Table 2 summarizes in a 4-tx system, different antenna transmissionconfigurations for different channels, for relay Rel-8 UE and futurerelease UE in an alternative approach.

TABLE 2 Antenna configuration for Alternative approach in a 4-tx systemControl channel Feature (PCFICH/ Non UE- UE- group PDCCH/ specificspecific UE type indicator PBCH PHICH) PDSCH PDSCH Early False 4-tx TxD4-tx TxD 4-tx TxD 2-tx or 4-tx Rel-8 UE with 4-tx TxD and CRC 2-tx SMFuture True masking 4-tx TxD 4-tx TxD 4-tx release transmission UE (TxDand SM)

This alternative approach may require elevation of priority of 4-tx TxDfor common control channel and PDSCH from medium to high in RAN 5terminal conformance test, but keep the priority for the remaining 4-txfeatures unchanged. The aspects of these alternatives could besummarized as follows:

As SFBC+FSTD is used as 4-tx TxD, the same Alamouti decoder could beused at the UE. That means if the 2-tx TxD passes the IOT test, the riskof supporting 4-tx TxD is very small from UE perspective.

To support 4-tx TxD may require channel estimation on CRS ports 2 and 3.If similar channel estimation methodology used on CRS ports 0 and 1could be applied to CRS ports 2 and 3, the de-risking effort should alsobe very small.

Supporting 4-tx TxD for common control channel for early Rel-8 UE wouldguarantee the same coverage of control channel for both early Rel-8 UEand future release UE. It also avoids having to support a mix of antennaconfigurations in PDCCH and PHICH channels, which may have somemultiplexing issue.

In the future when 4-tx system are deployed, supporting both such earlyRel-8 UE and future release of UE needs to multiplex them in the samesystem. FIG. 2 shows such multiplexing as an example.

Modifications on Rel-8 specifications

Followings are the examples of modifications based on current Rel-8specifications to support this approach. For simplicity of illustration,only one of the examples is described.

The changes are summarized in the following:

RRC signalling specifications

Definition of an IE that will indicate number of Tx Antennaconfiguration used for UE specific PDSCH transmission

Definition of a new parameter to indicate the number of TX antenna usedfor UE-specific transmissions and procedure text to describe theinitialization and reconfiguration of the parameter

PHY layer specifications

Limit the layer mapping for PDSCH that is configured by SI-RNTI, P-RNTI,RA-RNTI and temporary C-RNTI to 4-tx TxD. Set the layer mapping forPDSCH that is configured by C-RNTI based on the parameter set based onRRC signalling described above.

Modification to TS 36.331

1. A New IE Definition

A new IE “AntennaPDSCHIndicator” is defined and added into the existingIE “AntennaInfoDedicated”.

The new IE “AntennaInfoDedicated” is as follows:

—Start of Text Proposal—

AntennaInfoDedicated ::= SEQUENCE {  antennaPDSCHIndicator  ENUMERATED{an1, an2, an4,  spare},   transmissionMode   ENUMERATED {    tm1, tm2,tm3, tm4, tm5, tm6,    tm7, spare1},   codebookSubsetRestriction  CHOICE {    n2TxAntenna-tm3     BIT STRING (SIZE (2)),   n4TxAntenna-tm3     BIT STRING (SIZE (4)),    n2TxAntenna-tm4     BITSTRING (SIZE (6)),    n4TxAntenna-tm4     BIT STRING (SIZE (64)),   n2TxAntenna-tm5     BIT STRING (SIZE (4)),    n4TxAntenna-tm5     BITSTRING (SIZE (16)),    n2TxAntenna-tm6     BIT STRING (SIZE (4)),   n4TxAntenna-tm6     BIT STRING (SIZE (16))   } OPTIONAL, — Cond TM  ue-TransmitAntennaSelection    CHOICE release    NULL, setup   ENUMERATED   }    {closedLoop, openLoop} }

AntennaInfo field descriptions antennaPortsCount Parameter representsthe number of cell specific antenna ports where an1 corresponds to 1,an2 to 2 antenna ports etc. see TS 36.211, 6.2.1. AntennaPDSCHIndicator:Indicates number of antenna is used on the PDSCH for UE specifictransmission where an1 corresponds to 1, an2 to 2 antenna ports etc.transmissionMode Points to one of Transmission modes defined in TS36.213, 7.1 where tm1 refers to transmission mode 1, tm2 to transmissionmode 2 etc. codebookSubsetRestriction Parameter:codebookSubsetRestriction, see TS 36.213 [23, 7.2] and TS 36.211 [21,6.3.4.2.3]. ue-TransmitAntennaSelection For value setup the fieldindicates whether UE transmit antenna selection control is closed-loopor open-loop as described in TS 36.213 [23, 8.7]. Conditional presenceExplanation TM The field is mandatory present if the transmissionMode isset to tm3, tm4, tm5 or tm6. Otherwise the IE is not present and the UEshall delete any existing value for this field.

—End of Text Proposal—

Before the UE receives the “AntennaInfoDedicated”, for example, for themessage 2 and message 4 receptions, both the eNB and the UE shouldassume the same antenna configurations detected via the PBCH is appliedfor PDCCH/PHICH/PDSCH.

2. Procedure Text Change

A new parameter antennaPortDedicated and relatedinitialization/reconfiguration are defined.

The value of antennaPortDedicated should be initialized to the antennaport count determined by the PBCH decoding.

Define the initialization of the new parameter antennaPortDedicated

—Start of Text Proposal—

If the antenna port count determined by the PBCH decoding is greater orequal than 2, then UE sets the value of antennaPortDedicated to be 2,otherwise UE sets the value of antennaPortDedicated to be 1.

—End of Text Proposal—

Define the reconfiguration of antennaPortDedicated.

—Start of Text Proposal—

5.3.10.6 Physical Channel Reconfiguration

The UE shall:

1>reconfigure the physical channel configuration in accordance with thereceived  physicalConfigDedicated; 1>if the antennaInformation isincluded and set to ‘explicitValue’:  if the configured transmissionModeis not ‘tm3’  or ‘tm4’ release ri-ConfigIndex in cqi-    ReportPeriodic,if previously configured;  2> set antennaPortDedicated toantennaPDSCHDedicated; 1>else if the antennaInformation is included andset to ‘defaultValue’:  2>release ri-ConfigIndex in cqi-ReportPeriodic, if previously configured;

—End of Text Proposal—

Modification to TS 36.213

-   1. Using antennaPortDedicated to specify antenna configuration of    PDSCH TxD for UE specific transmission in TS 36.213

—Start of Text Proposal—

7.1.2 Transmit Diversity Scheme

For the transmit diversity transmission scheme of the PDSCH, the UE mayassume that an eNB transmission on the PDSCH would be performedaccording to Section 6.3.4.3 of [3]. For PDSCH that are configured bySI-RNTI, P-RNTI, RA-RNTI, and Temporary C-RNTI, 4 antenna ports are usedfor transmit diversity. For PDSCH that are configured by C-RNTI and SPSC-RNTI, the number of antenna ports that are used is provided byantennaPortDedicated

—End of Text Proposal—

As shown in FIG. 3, as an example, the general procedure for UE toobtain downlink transmit antenna configuration from eNB could be asfollows

The UE could obtain initial antenna ports of eNB through decoding PBCH,such information could be used to receive common control channels andsome non UE-specific PDSCH channel.

Through blind decoding of PBCH with the corresponding CRC masking, theUE could also obtain some information on eNB transmission antennacapability such as whether it could support 4-tx transmission. Suchinformation could be used to determine if CRS ports 2 and 3 aretransmitted, and therefore, UE should not expect any data transmissionon those RE designated to CRS ports 2 and 3.

The UE then sends its feature group indication bits to eNB, whichincludes the bit for 4-tx features. This bit represents whether the UEis 4-tx IOT certified.

By receiving the feature group indication bits, eNB would know thecapability of the UE in supporting full or partial IOT certified Rel-84-tx features from corresponding 4-tx feature group indicator. Forexample, in the first approach described above, if received 4-tx featuregroup indicator is false, it would mean that the UE is not capable ofsupporting any IOT certified 4-tx features. However, if received suchbit is false in the second approach, the UE should be considered capableof supporting partial 4-tx features such as 4-tx TxD.

The eNB could also send antenna port information to the UE throughdedicated high layer signal such as RRC. Such information could be usedto update the initial antenna port the UE obtained from PBCH.

The eNB could start transmission to the UE using specified antenna porton some channels.

A summary of the approaches discussed above have been summarized inTable 3.

TABLE 3 Summary of different approaches to introduce 4-tx features forRel-8 Approach Descriptions Advantages 1 In a 4-tx system, PBCH woulduse 2- No risk due to the lack of IOT for 4-tx tx TxD transmission sothat the early features. Rel-8 UE would obtain antenna The early Rel-8UE could still obtain configuration by decoding PBCH. antennaconfiguration by decoding PBCH Early Rel-8 UE and future release UE Specchange is small could obtain eNB capability of 4-tx transmission throughPBCH masking or broadcasting or high-layer signaling. Supporting 2-txtransmission for early Rel-8 UE for both control and PDSCH channels. Forfuture release UEs, supporting 2- tx or 4-tx transmission for itscontrol channels; supporting 2-tx TxD for non UE-specific transmissionon PDSCH, while supporting 4-tx transmission for UE-specifictransmission on PDSCH All common RS for ports 0-3 should be transmitted,Early Rel-8 UE.should be aware of this through CRC masking of PBCH orhigh-layer signaling and therefore not expect any transmission on thoseRE designated to CRS ports 2 and 3 2 In a 4-tx system, PBCH would use 4-It will maintain the same control channel tx TxD transmission. EarlyRel-8 UE coverage for all UE and future release UE would both EarlyRel-8 UE could still obtain antenna obtain antenna configuration byconfiguration for control channel from decoding PBCH decoding PBCHSupporting 4-tx TxD on all control No mixed supporting of differentantenna channels for both early Rel-8 UE and configuration in controlregion. future release UE. Spec change is small For early Rel-8 UE,supporting 2-tx or 4-tx TxD and 2-tx SM on PDSCH. For future release UE,supporting 4-tx transmission on PDSCH All common RS for ports 0-3 aretransmitted. Early Rel-8 UE.should be aware of this through decodingPBCH and therefore not expect any transmission on those RE designated toCRS ports 2 and 3. For early Rel-8 UE, its non UE- specific transmissionon PBSCH could use 2-tx or 4-tx TxD and such configurations could beaccomplished by high-layer signaling.

FIG. 4 illustrates a wireless communications system including anembodiment of UA 10. UA 10 is operable for implementing aspects of thedisclosure, but the disclosure should not be limited to theseimplementations. Though illustrated as a mobile phone, the UA 10 maytake various forms including a wireless handset, a pager, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a portable computer, a tablet computer, alaptop computer. Many suitable devices combine some or all of thesefunctions. In some examples of the disclosure, the UA 10 is not ageneral purpose computing device like a portable, laptop or tabletcomputer, but rather is a special-purpose communications device such asa mobile phone, a wireless handset, a pager, a PDA, or atelecommunications device installed in a vehicle. The UA 10 may also bea device, include a device, or be included in a device that has similarcapabilities but that is not transportable, such as a desktop computer,a set-top box, or a network node. The UA 10 may support specializedactivities such as gaming, inventory control, job control, and/or taskmanagement functions, and so on.

The UA 10 includes a display 702. The UA 10 also includes atouch-sensitive surface, a keyboard or other input keys generallyreferred as 704 for input by a user. The keyboard may be a full orreduced alphanumeric keyboard such as QWERTY, Dvorak, AZERTY, andsequential types, or a traditional numeric keypad with alphabet lettersassociated with a telephone keypad. The input keys may include atrackwheel, an exit or escape key, a trackball, and other navigationalor functional keys, which may be inwardly depressed to provide furtherinput function. The UA 10 may present options for the user to select,controls for the user to actuate, and/or cursors or other indicators forthe user to direct.

The UA 10 may further accept data entry from the user, including numbersto dial or various parameter values for configuring the operation of theUA 10. The UA 10 may further execute one or more software or firmwareapplications in response to user commands. These applications mayconfigure the UA 10 to perform various customized functions in responseto user interaction. Additionally, the UA 10 may be programmed and/orconfigured over-the-air, for example from a wireless base station, awireless access point, or a peer UA 10.

Among the various applications executable by the UA 10 are a webbrowser, which enables the display 702 to show a web page. The web pagemay be obtained via wireless communications with a wireless networkaccess node, a cell tower, a peer UA 10, or any other wirelesscommunication network or system 700. The network 700 is coupled to awired network 708, such as the Internet. Via the wireless link and thewired network, the UA 10 has access to information on various servers,such as a server 710. The server 710 may provide content that may beshown on the display 702. Alternately, the UA 10 may access the network700 through a peer UA 10 acting as an intermediary, in a relay type orhop type of connection.

FIG. 5 shows a block diagram of the UA 10. While a variety of knowncomponents of UAs 110 are depicted, in an embodiment a subset of thelisted components and/or additional components not listed may beincluded in the UA 10. The UA 10 includes a digital signal processor(DSP) 802 and a memory 804. As shown, the UA 10 may further include anantenna and front end unit 806, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 808,an analog baseband processing unit 810, a microphone 812, an earpiecespeaker 814, a headset port 816, an input/output interface 818, aremovable memory card 820, a universal serial bus (USB) port 822, ashort range wireless communication sub-system 824, an alert 826, akeypad 828, a liquid crystal display (LCD), which may include a touchsensitive surface 830, an LCD controller 832, a charge-coupled device(CCD) camera 834, a camera controller 836, and a global positioningsystem (GPS) sensor 838. In an embodiment, the UA 10 may include anotherkind of display that does not provide a touch sensitive screen. In anembodiment, the DSP 802 may communicate directly with the memory 804without passing through the input/output interface 818.

The DSP 802 or some other form of controller or central processing unitoperates to control the various components of the UA 10 in accordancewith embedded software or firmware stored in memory 804 or stored inmemory contained within the DSP 802 itself. In addition to the embeddedsoftware or firmware, the DSP 802 may execute other applications storedin the memory 804 or made available via information carrier media suchas portable data storage media like the removable memory card 820 or viawired or wireless network communications. The application software maycomprise a compiled set of machine-readable instructions that configurethe DSP 802 to provide the desired functionality, or the applicationsoftware may be high-level software instructions to be processed by aninterpreter or compiler to indirectly configure the DSP 802.

The antenna and front end unit 806 may be provided to convert betweenwireless signals and electrical signals, enabling the UA 10 to send andreceive information from a cellular network or some other availablewireless communications network or from a peer UA 10. In an embodiment,the antenna and front end unit 806 may include multiple antennas tosupport beam forming and/or multiple input multiple output (MIMO)operations. As is known to those skilled in the art, MIMO operations mayprovide spatial diversity which can be used to overcome difficultchannel conditions and/or increase channel throughput. The antenna andfront end unit 806 may include antenna tuning and/or impedance matchingcomponents, RF power amplifiers, and/or low noise amplifiers.

The RF transceiver 808 provides frequency shifting, converting receivedRF signals to baseband and converting baseband transmit signals to RF.In some descriptions a radio transceiver or RF transceiver may beunderstood to include other signal processing functionality such asmodulation/demodulation, coding/decoding, interleaving/deinterleaving,spreading/despreading, inverse fast Fourier transforming (IFFT)/fastFourier transforming (FFT), cyclic prefix appending/removal, and othersignal processing functions. For the purposes of clarity, thedescription here separates the description of this signal processingfrom the RF and/or radio stage and conceptually allocates that signalprocessing to the analog baseband processing unit 810 and/or the DSP 802or other central processing unit. In some embodiments, the RFTransceiver 808, portions of the Antenna and Front End 806, and theanalog base band processing unit 810 may be combined in one or moreprocessing units and/or application specific integrated circuits(ASICs).

The analog base band processing unit 810 may provide various analogprocessing of inputs and outputs, for example analog processing ofinputs from the microphone 812 and the headset 816 and outputs to theearpiece 814 and the headset 816. To that end, the analog base bandprocessing unit 810 may have ports for connecting to the built-inmicrophone 812 and the earpiece speaker 814 that enable the UA 10 to beused as a cell phone. The analog base band processing unit 810 mayfurther include a port for connecting to a headset or other hands-freemicrophone and speaker configuration. The analog base band processingunit 810 may provide digital-to-analog conversion in one signaldirection and analog-to-digital conversion in the opposing signaldirection. In some embodiments, at least some of the functionality ofthe analog base band processing unit 810 may be provided by digitalprocessing components, for example by the DSP 802 or by other centralprocessing units.

The DSP 802 may perform modulation/demodulation, coding/decoding,interleaving/deinterleaving, spreading/despreading, inverse fast Fouriertransforming (IFFT)/fast Fourier transforming (FFT), cyclic prefixappending/removal, and other signal processing functions associated withwireless communications. In an embodiment, for example in a codedivision multiple access (CDMA) technology application, for atransmitter function the DSP 802 may perform modulation, coding,interleaving, and spreading, and for a receiver function the DSP 802 mayperform despreading, deinterleaving, decoding, and demodulation. Inanother embodiment, for example in an orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplex access (OFDMA) technology application, for the transmitterfunction the DSP 802 may perform modulation, coding, interleaving,inverse fast Fourier transforming, and cyclic prefix appending, and fora receiver function the DSP 802 may perform cyclic prefix removal, fastFourier transforming, deinterleaving, decoding, and demodulation. Inother wireless technology applications, yet other signal processingfunctions and combinations of signal processing functions may beperformed by the DSP 802.

The DSP 802 may communicate with a wireless network via the analogbaseband processing unit 810. In some embodiments, the communication mayprovide Internet connectivity, enabling a user to gain access to contenton the Internet and to send and receive e-mail or text messages. Theinput/output interface 818 interconnects the DSP 802 and variousmemories and interfaces. The memory 804 and the removable memory card820 may provide software and data to configure the operation of the DSP802. Among the interfaces may be the USB interface 822 and the shortrange wireless communication sub-system 824. The USB interface 822 maybe used to charge the UA 10 and may also enable the UA 10 to function asa peripheral device to exchange information with a personal computer orother computer system. The short range wireless communication sub-system824 may include an infrared port, a Bluetooth interface, an IEEE 802.11compliant wireless interface, or any other short range wirelesscommunication sub-system, which may enable the UA 10 to communicatewirelessly with other nearby mobile devices and/or wireless basestations.

The input/output interface 818 may further connect the DSP 802 to thealert 826 that, when triggered, causes the UA 10 to provide a notice tothe user, for example, by ringing, playing a melody, or vibrating. Thealert 826 may serve as a mechanism for alerting the user to any ofvarious events such as an incoming call, a new text message, and anappointment reminder by silently vibrating, or by playing a specificpre-assigned melody for a particular caller.

The keypad 828 couples to the DSP 802 via the interface 818 to provideone mechanism for the user to make selections, enter information, andotherwise provide input to the UA 10. The keyboard 828 may be a full orreduced alphanumeric keyboard such as QWERTY, Dvorak, AZERTY andsequential types, or a traditional numeric keypad with alphabet lettersassociated with a telephone keypad. The input keys may include atrackwheel, an exit or escape key, a trackball, and other navigationalor functional keys, which may be inwardly depressed to provide furtherinput function. Another input mechanism may be the LCD 830, which mayinclude touch screen capability and also display text and/or graphics tothe user. The LCD controller 832 couples the DSP 802 to the LCD 830.

The CCD camera 834, if equipped, enables the UA 10 to take digitalpictures. The DSP 802 communicates with the CCD camera 834 via thecamera controller 836. In another embodiment, a camera operatingaccording to a technology other than Charge Coupled Device cameras maybe employed. The GPS sensor 838 is coupled to the DSP 802 to decodeglobal positioning system signals, thereby enabling the UA 10 todetermine its position. Various other peripherals may also be includedto provide additional functions, e.g., radio and television reception.

FIG. 6 illustrates a software environment 902 that may be implemented bythe DSP 802. The DSP 802 executes operating system drivers 904 thatprovide a platform from which the rest of the software operates. Theoperating system drivers 904 provide drivers for the UA hardware withstandardized interfaces that are accessible to application software. Theoperating system drivers 904 include application management services(“AMS”) 906 that transfer control between applications running on the UA10. Also shown in FIG. 6 are a web browser application 908, a mediaplayer application 910, and Java applets 912. The web browserapplication 908 configures the UA 10 to operate as a web browser,allowing a user to enter information into forms and select links toretrieve and view web pages. The media player application 910 configuresthe UA 10 to retrieve and play audio or audiovisual media. The Javaapplets 912 configure the UA 10 to provide games, utilities, and otherfunctionality. A component 914 might provide functionality describedherein.

The UA, the base station, and other components described above mightinclude a processing component that is capable of executing instructionsrelated to the actions described above. FIG. 7 illustrates an example ofa system 1000 that includes a processing component 1010 suitable forimplementing one or more embodiments disclosed herein. In addition tothe processor 1010 (which may be referred to as a central processor unit(CPU or DSP), the system 1000 might include network connectivity devices1020, random access memory (RAM) 1030, read only memory (ROM) 1040,secondary storage 1050, and input/output (I/O) devices 1060. In somecases, some of these components may not be present or may be combined invarious combinations with one another or with other components notshown. These components might be located in a single physical entity orin more than one physical entity. Any actions described herein as beingtaken by the processor 1010 might be taken by the processor 1010 aloneor by the processor 1010 in conjunction with one or more componentsshown or not shown in the drawing.

The processor 1010 executes instructions, codes, computer programs, orscripts that it might access from the network connectivity devices 1020,RAM 1030, ROM 1040, or secondary storage 1050 (which might includevarious disk-based systems such as hard disk, floppy disk, or opticaldisk). While only one processor 1010 is shown, multiple processors maybe present. Thus, while instructions may be discussed as being executedby a processor, the instructions may be executed simultaneously,serially, or otherwise by one or multiple processors. The processor 1010may be implemented as one or more CPU chips.

The network connectivity devices 1020 may take the form of modems, modembanks, Ethernet devices, universal serial bus (USB) interface devices,serial interfaces, token ring devices, fiber distributed data interface(FDDI) devices, wireless local area network (WLAN) devices, radiotransceiver devices such as code division multiple access (CDMA)devices, global system for mobile communications (GSM) radio transceiverdevices, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX)devices, and/or other well-known devices for connecting to networks.These network connectivity devices 1020 may enable the processor 1010 tocommunicate with the Internet or one or more telecommunications networksor other networks from which the processor 1010 might receiveinformation or to which the processor 1010 might output information.

The network connectivity devices 1020 might also include one or moretransceiver components 1025 capable of transmitting and/or receivingdata wirelessly in the form of electromagnetic waves, such as radiofrequency signals or microwave frequency signals. Alternatively, thedata may propagate in or on the surface of electrical conductors, incoaxial cables, in waveguides, in optical media such as optical fiber,or in other media. The transceiver component 1025 might include separatereceiving and transmitting units or a single transceiver. Informationtransmitted or received by the transceiver 1025 may include data thathas been processed by the processor 1010 or instructions that are to beexecuted by processor 1010. Such information may be received from andoutputted to a network in the form, for example, of a computer databaseband signal or signal embodied in a carrier wave. The data may beordered according to different sequences as may be desirable for eitherprocessing or generating the data or transmitting or receiving the data.The baseband signal, the signal embedded in the carrier wave, or othertypes of signals currently used or hereafter developed may be referredto as the transmission medium and may be generated according to severalmethods well known to one skilled in the art.

The RAM 1030 might be used to store volatile data and perhaps to storeinstructions that are executed by the processor 1010. The ROM 1040 is anon-volatile memory device that typically has a smaller memory capacitythan the memory capacity of the secondary storage 1050. ROM 1040 mightbe used to store instructions and perhaps data that are read duringexecution of the instructions. Access to both RAM 1030 and ROM 1040 istypically faster than to secondary storage 1050. The secondary storage1050 is typically comprised of one or more disk drives or tape drivesand might be used for non-volatile storage of data or as an over-flowdata storage device if RAM 1030 is not large enough to hold all workingdata. Secondary storage 1050 may be used to store programs that areloaded into RAM 1030 when such programs are selected for execution.

The I/O devices 1060 may include liquid crystal displays (LCDs), touchscreen displays, keyboards, keypads, switches, dials, mice, track balls,voice recognizers, card readers, paper tape readers, printers, videomonitors, or other well-known input/output devices. Also, thetransceiver 1025 might be considered to be a component of the I/Odevices 1060 instead of or in addition to being a component of thenetwork connectivity devices 1020. Some or all of the I/O devices 1060may be substantially similar to various components depicted in thepreviously described drawing of the UA 10, such as the display 702 andthe input 704.

The following 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) TechnicalSpecifications (TS) are incorporated herein by reference:

3GPP TS 36.212, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network,Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (EUTRA), Multiplexing andChannel Coding, V8.7.0 (2009-06) RP-090571, “Proposed Modifications toLTE feature group indications”, Nokia Siemens Networks, NokiaCorporation, 3GPP TSG-RAN Plenary Meeting #44, Aruba, Netherland3GPP TS 36.331, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network,Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (EUTRA), Radio ResourceControl, V8.6.0 (2009-06)3GPP TS 36.211, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network,Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (EUTRA), Physical Channelsand Modulation, V8.7.0 (2009-06)3GPP TS 36.213, Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network,Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (EUTRA), Physical LayerProcedures, V8.7.0 (2009-06)

While several embodiments have been provided in the present disclosure,it should be understood that the disclosed systems and methods may beembodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spiritor scope of the present disclosure. The present examples are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the intention is notto be limited to the details given herein. For example, the variouselements or components may be combined or integrated in another systemor certain features may be omitted, or not implemented.

The foregoing has described various processes and functionality that maybe implemented using, for example, computer readable instructions. Theexample processes and functionality may be performed using one or moreprocessors, controllers, and/or any other suitable processing devices.For example, the example processes and functionality may be implementedusing coded instructions (e.g., computer readable instructions) storedon one or more tangible computer readable media such as memory,read-only memory (ROM), and/or random-access memory (RAM). As usedherein, the term tangible computer readable medium is expressly definedto include any type of computer readable storage and to excludepropagating signals. Additionally or alternatively, the exampleprocesses and functionality may be implemented using coded instructions(e.g., computer readable instructions) stored on one or morenon-transitory computer readable media such as flash memory, read-onlymemory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache, or any other storagemedia in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., forextended time periods, permanently, brief instances, for temporarilybuffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, theterm non-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer readable medium and to exclude propagatingsignals.

Alternatively, some or all of the example processes and functionalitymay be implemented using any combination(s) of logic, such asapplication specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logicdevice(s) (PLD(s)), field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)),discrete logic, hardware, firmware, etc. Also, some or all of theexample processes and functionality may be implemented manually or asany combination(s) of any of the foregoing techniques, for example, anycombination of firmware, software, discrete logic and/or hardware.Further, although the example processes and functionality are describedwith reference to the drawings, other methods of implementing theprocesses and functionality may be employed.

Also, techniques, systems, subsystems, methods, functionality, andprocesses described and illustrated in the various embodiments asdiscrete or separate may be combined or integrated with other systems,modules, techniques, or methods without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure. Other items shown or discussed as coupled ordirectly coupled or communicating with each other may be indirectlycoupled or communicating through some interface, device, or intermediatecomponent, whether electrically, mechanically, or otherwise. Otherexamples of changes, substitutions, and alterations are ascertainable byone skilled in the art and may be made without departing from the spiritand scope disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of establishing communication betweenuser equipment and a network node comprising: receiving a common controlchannel message at user equipment; decoding the common control channelmessage at the user equipment using blind decoding; based on the blinddecoding, determining a first number of antenna ports; and sending anindication from the user equipment of whether the user equipment iscapable of receiving signals from a second number of antenna portsdifferent than the first number of antenna ports.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein the common control channel message is encoded to indicateantenna capability of the network node.
 3. The method of claim 2,wherein the common control channel message is sent using two antennaports and the encoding indicates that the network is capable of usingfour transmit antenna ports.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising receiving signaling through radio resource control that thenetwork node is capable of using four transmit antenna ports.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein sending the indication of whether the userequipment is capable of receiving signals from the second number ofantenna ports comprises sending the indication as part of a featuregroup indicator.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein if the indicationspecifies that the user equipment is capable of receiving signals fromthe second number of antenna ports, the second number of antenna portsare used for communication on control channels and the first number ofantenna ports are used for communication on a user equipment-specificphysical downlink shared channel.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising grouping physical hybrid ARQ channels (PHICH) with a sameantenna port configuration in a PHICH group.
 8. The method of claim 1,further comprising grouping physical hybrid ARQ channels (PHICH) withdifferent antenna port configurations in a PHICH group.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein if the indication specifies that the user equipment iscapable of receiving signals from the second number of antenna ports,the second number of antenna ports are used for communication on commoncontrol channels and the first number of antenna ports are used forcommunication on user equipment-specific channels.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein if the indication specifies that the user equipment isnot capable of receiving signals from the second number of antennaports, a second number of antenna ports are used for communication onall channels.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein if the indicationspecifies that the user equipment is not capable of receiving signalsfrom the second number of antenna ports, the first number of antennaports are used for communication on control channels and a second numberof antenna ports are used for communication on a user equipment-specificphysical downlink shared channel.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein ifthe indication specifies that the user equipment is not capable ofreceiving signals from the second number of antenna ports, the firstnumber of antenna ports are used for communication on common controlchannels and the first number of antenna ports and a second number ofantenna ports are used for communication on a user equipment-specificphysical downlink shared channel.
 13. The method of claim 12, whereinthe first number of antenna ports and the second number of antenna portstransmit using one of transmit diversity and spatial multiplexing. 14.The method of claim 1, wherein if the indication specifies that the userequipment is capable of receiving signals from the second number ofantenna ports, the first number of antenna ports are used forcommunication on all channels.
 15. A method as defined in claim 1,wherein the indication of whether the user equipment is capable ofreceiving signals from the second number of antenna ports comprises aone-bit indicator.
 16. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein receivingthe common control channel message comprises receiving the commoncontrol channel message on a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).
 17. Amethod as defined in claim 1, further comprising: receiving a dedicatedcontrol channel message; decoding the dedicated control channel message;and based on the decoding, determining a second number of transmitantenna ports.
 18. A method of establishing communication between userequipment and a network node comprising: encoding a common controlchannel message at a network node; sending the encoded common controlchannel message from the network node using a first number of antennaports; receiving an indication at the network node of whether the userequipment is capable of receiving signals from a second number ofantenna ports different than the first number of antenna ports; andsending a dedicated control channel message to update the antenna portinformation at the user equipment.
 19. The method of claim 18, whereinthe encoded common control channel message indicates antenna capabilityof the network.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the encoded commoncontrol channel message is sent using two antenna ports and the encodingindicates that the network is capable of using four transmit antennaports.
 21. The method of claim 18, further comprising sending signalingthrough radio resource control that the network is capable of using fourtransmit antenna ports.
 22. The method of claim 18, wherein receivingthe indication of whether the user equipment is capable of receivingsignals from the second number of antenna ports comprises receiving theindication as part of a feature group indicator.
 23. The method of claim18, wherein if the indication specifies that the user equipment iscapable of receiving signals from the second number of antenna ports,the second number of antenna ports are used for communication on controlchannels and the first number of antenna ports are used forcommunication on a user equipment-specific physical downlink sharedchannel.
 24. A method as defined in claim 18, wherein the indication ofwhether the user equipment is capable of receiving signals from thesecond number of antenna ports comprises a one-bit indicator.
 25. Amethod in user equipment of establishing communication between userequipment and a network node comprising: receiving a common controlchannel message from the network node; decoding the common controlchannel message using blind decoding; determining a first number oftransmit antenna ports used to transmit the common control channelmessage based on the blind decoding; sending an information elementcomprising an indication of capability of receiving signals from asecond number of antenna ports, the second number of antenna ports beingdifferent than the first number of antenna ports; and receiving adedicated control message including antenna port information.